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Russian GP Qualifying: Rosberg on pole after more Hamilton woe

World champion suffers repeat of China power unit failure; Hamilton unable to take part in Q3; Vettel second quickest but will drop five places on the grid

Nico Rosberg will start from pole position for the Russian GP after Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton was once again struck by unreliability.

Hamilton suffered the same failure he suffered in China, losing power on his final out lap in Q2, and his Mercedes will require a new power unit to be fitted overnight ahead of Sunday's race.

"I went out at the end of Q2 to get a feel and I lost the same power as I lost in China," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.

Hamilton's woes left Rosberg unchallenged for pole, with both Mercedes cars comfortably clear of the chasing pack over a single lap.

Rosberg could even afford to abort his final run after a mistake forced the world championship leader wide. 

"I was quite confident that the lap was good enough out there because in Q2 the Ferraris were quite far away and I knew Lewis wasn't taking any further part in qualifying," said Rosberg.

"It was a qualifying that felt quite exceptional for me."

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Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton suffered yet another power unit failure ahead of Q3

Sebastian Vettel was second quickest for Ferrari, but over seven tenths of a second off the pace. However, the German will be relegated five-places on the grid after a gearbox change.

"The car feels good. We know on Saturday we are a little bit further back than we would hope, but I expect a strong race," said Vettel.

That penalty promotes Valtteri Bottas to the front row for Sunday's race after the Williams driver split the two Ferraris in the timesheets.

Kimi Raikkonen was fourth quickest, ahead of Felipe Massa and Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian could be one to watch after showing tremendous race pace and tyre durability during Friday practice.

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Sergio Perez, Daniil Kvyat and Max Verstappen completed the nine cars that took part in the final part of qualifying.

Carlos Sainz was denied a spot in Q3 by a last gasp effort from Kvyat, but will at least benefit from being the first man with free tyre choice for the race.

The Spaniard was ahead of Jenson Button as both McLarens once again failed to make it into the final part of qualifying. McLaren haven't been in Q3 since the rebirth of their partnership with Honda, but can take some satisfaction from being just a tenth away from a place in the top ten shootout.

Button was a tenth of a second ahead of Fernando Alonso, the first time he has out-qualified the Spaniard this season, with Force India's Nico Hulkenberg splitting the pair. The German was half a second slower than his team-mate Perez in the session.

The two Haas cars of Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez completed the Q2 drop outs.

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Reaction from the top three drivers after qualifying in Russia

Both Renaults once again made an early exit from qualifying as the French marque's difficult return to F1 as a works team continued.

Kevin Magnussen was ahead of Jolyon Palmer, but the Dane's time was around nine tenths of a second slower than the Red Bull car of Ricciardo powered by the same engine.

Felipe Nasr's new chassis saw the Brazilian rejuvenated as he finished the session half a second quicker than Sauber team-mate Marcus Ericsson. However, the two Swiss cars still only sandwiched the Manors of Pascal Wehrlein and Rio Haryanto at the back of the grid.

Russian GP qualifying

Q3

1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:35.417

2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:36.123 *Five-place grid penalty

3. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1:36.536

4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:36.663

5. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:37.016

6. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:37.125

7. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:37.212

8. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull, 1:37.459

9. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1:37.583

10. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, No time

Q2

11. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1:37.652

12. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:37.701

13. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:37.771

14. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1:37.807

15. Romain Grosjean, Haas, 1:38.005

16. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, 1:38.115

Q1

17. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 1:38.914

18. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1:39.009

19. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1:39.018

20. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, 1:39.399

21. Rio Haryanto, Manor, 1:39.463

22. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1:39.519

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